What is an oligarch anyway?

As the world reacts to Russia's invasion of Ukraine by imposing unprecedented sanctions on Russian companies and individuals, the word "oligarch" has been thrown around with gay abandon on newscast and in articles. But what actually is an oligarch?

Oligarchy just means rule by a small number of people (Greek olígos, few, arkho, to rule), a term pioneered by Aristotle to describe a tendency to rule by the rich (which we are more likely to describe today as plutocracy). An oligarch is one of those few rich people.

Such powerful and influential individuals can be found worldwide, but the term has become used almost exclusively in the context of "Russian oligarchs". Many Russian businessmen (and, yes, they are all men) became fabulously rich when they became private owners of Russian multinational businesses (particularly in the oil, gas and metals industries) in the aftermath of the collapse of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s. 

They quickly cottoned on to the fact that their wealth and influence could yield them substantial political power, especially power to preserve their own positions and wealth, and a shadowy system of quid pro quo grew up. When Vladimir Putin (himself fabulously rich, although unofficially so) came to power in  the early 2000s, he was particularly amenable to striking bargains with such people, and many of them have established direct relationships with those in positions of political power in Russia. 

Among the most prominent Russian oligarchs are Roman Abramovich (who is currently selling Chelsea Football Club), Igor Sechin (dubbed "Darth Vader" and "the scariest man on earth" by Russian media), Alexander Abramov, Oleg Deripaska ("Putin's favourite oligarch"), Mikhail Prokhorov, Alisher Usmanov, German Khan, Viktor Vekselberg, Leonid Mikhelson, Vagit Alekperov, Mikhail Fridman, Dmitry Ribolovlev, Vladimir Potanin, Pyotr Aven, and Vitaly Malkin. Many of the current crop of Russian oligarchs are actually second-generation oligarchs.

Interestingly, Ukraine has its own system of oligarchs, who also came to power after Ukrainian independence in 1991, many of them also with close links to Russia. But you don't really hear the phrase "Ukrainian oligarchs", do you?

As for the question of why rich businessmen in America, for example - think Michael Bloomberg, Donald Trump, the Koch brothers - are not described as oligarchs, it is argued that the country's institutions and independent court system do not allow rich Americans access to the kind of direct political power that might sustain and even boost their own positions and private wealth (although Donald Trump did his level best to change that).